In Ephesians, Paul writes
that some Christians are called to be apostles, others to be prophets,
evangelists, pastors and teachers.

Today, still others are
called to be pilots.
Members of the North
Carolina Baptist Men’s Aviation ministry have combined their passions for
flying and Christ to touch countless lives in countless ways. There really
doesn’t seem to be a job description as such … if someone needs help, the group
will do everything in its power to help out. That’s borne out in what could
best be described as a rather eclectic resume.

Partnering with the Angel
Flight organization, fliers of the North Carolina Baptist Men’s Aviation Ministry
have flown people in a number of different emergency situations. There have
been trips to Haiti and areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Patients and their
families have been flown to and from Randleman, N.C.’s Victory Junction Gang
Camp, a sprawling complex for chronically and terminally ill children.

Prayers have been prayed
over – quite literally – the North and South Carolina state capitol buildings.
Youngsters receive plane rides to help foster a love for aviation. At the heart
of a long list of services, the N.C. Baptist Men’s Aviation ministry is a group
based on passion for what it does.

Contributed photo

Bob Joyner enjoys being able to share his love of flying with serving those in need through North Carolina Baptist Men’s aviation ministry.

Bob Joyner has long loved
aviation. A member of a Mooresville-based flying club that owns two four-seat,
single-engine Cessna 172s, Joyner first began using his talent and interest in
flying to serve others about 10 years ago. Now, he is the state coordinator for
the North Carolina Baptist Men’s Aviation
Ministry.

“I really couldn’t see
myself involved in anything that I really couldn’t use to serve the Lord and
serve others,” Joyner says. “Anything that I did like that, I would want to
ensure that I was able to do that, to use it in some way to serve. It’s just a
way to use my talents, skills and gifts that God gave me to serve others.”

Obviously, flying isn’t for
everyone. For Joyner, however, it’s a great way to get away from it all.

“To me, flying is exciting,”
Joyner says. “It’s not something that everybody does. It’s a little bit
different. When I’m by myself, when I go up, I just feel a sense of freedom. On
a Friday evening, if I want to go up to just knock around and leave the work
week behind, I’ll shoot an e-mail to a couple of buddies and they’ll want to go
up, too. The people that are involved in the ministry, everybody has the same
passion.”

Another rather unique
ministry opportunity for the group amounts to a “church of the week” program.

“We fly over, maybe take a
picture, get it developed and (put it in the mail) with a note on the back,
‘Prayed for you today.’”

Imagine the impact that kind
of contact could make on a congregation. The wide range of ministry
opportunities that it takes on is quite humbling, from fun days at a local
airport with a group of children to somber trips transporting family members in
the midst of crisis.

Here’s how different the
missions of the North Carolina Baptist Men’s Aviation Ministry can be. A few
years back, members flew local Royal Ambassador and Girls In Actions groups out
of an airport in Elkin.

“We took the kids up and
most of them, their churches were close enough to where we could just fly over
and let them say a prayer over their church,” Joyner says. “We had real good
participation that day. We spent most of the day at the airport … it was a good
day.”

On the other hand, however,
Joyner recalls this sad mission as one of his most memorable.

“On Labor Day (2009), I had
someone who had a relative who had passed away up in Manassas, Va.,” Joyner
concludes. “His son had been killed in a traffic accident, and that was his
sister I was flying (home from the funeral). He was telling me how much it
meant to have her there. Every (mission) is different and has different
meaning, but that kind of touched me, just knowing that we helped facilitate
having her there in his time of need.”

5/31/2010 6:36:00 AM by
Rick Houston, Special to the Recorder | with 0 comments

A Gaston County judge found
King James Baptist Church’s pastor guilty May 25 of two counts of sexual
battery.

Harley Michael Keough, 73,
was charged with 10 counts of sexual battery and one count of assault on a
female. His sentence: a 60-day suspended sentence and 18 months probation.

Keough will also undergo a sexual offender evaluation, submit a DNA sample to
the state and be added to the sexual offender registry.

Keough has been charged with
10 counts of sexual battery and one charge of assault on a female for instances
that allegedly happened between 2006 and 2009. Only two of the counts were
being tried at this time because they occurred on the same day.

In his defense Keough said
he never inappropriately touched women at the food bank. He claimed one of his
accusers was angry because she was refused food. Keough did say that he hugged
one of the women, but said he did so because his church is a loving church.

While on the witness stand,
Keough said that he couldn’t have done anything wrong because he has erectile
dysfunction.

On May 24, several women
testified against Keough. They all said the assaults happened while visiting
the Bessemer City church-run food bank.

Keough’s arrest came in
November 2009 after a woman complained to police. After his arrest, others
began to share similar stories.

Mount Vernon Baptist Church
on Falls of Neuse Road in Raleigh once sat in a rural part of town. The
two-lane road out in front of the church didn’t seem to lead much of anywhere,
and city planners said the area would never grow and the 35-member church would
always be a rural church.

That was 32 years ago. The
two-lane road turned into a four-lane road leading to shopping malls and
restaurants, and 35 members turned into more than 600. Shannon Scott is the
first and only full time pastor of Mount Vernon. When he met with church
leaders 32 years ago they told him their church would die soon if something did
not change. Scott did not let their honesty and a seemingly unpromising
situation turn him away.

BR photo by Norman Jameson

Shannon Scott, center, visits at the May Baptist State Convention of North Carolina board meeting with Joel Stephens, left, and Don McCutcheon.

“Do I know God called me
here? Absolutely,” Scott said. When he came the church did not have a big
facility or many ministries; they didn’t really have much at all. Yet, Scott
said during those early years “God was building a base of dedicated people.
They came because God called them.” Scott can still look out Sunday mornings
and see scattered throughout the congregation leaders who have been with him
for nearly 32 years.

When Scott arrived at Mount
Vernon he preached God’s word, and people came to know Jesus Christ as their
personal Lord and Savior. When he first arrived the church had no Sunday School
teachers, but after praying for laborers to be sent into the field, Sunday
School teachers came. “God’s hand was on it,” Scott said. “The Lord saved us.”

Throughout the years Scott
faithfully served the Lord, and the Lord has changed lives through the ministry
of Mount Vernon.
The church is now
intentional with their evangelism efforts and people are being called out to
share the gospel in areas of the world with no gospel witness. Scott continues
to watch as new families come into the church and God grows them up to be
leaders in the church and community.

Change did not happen
overnight and at times Scott did consider leaving. When God never provided a
way out Scott knew he needed to stay where he was, for God had work left for
him to do. Scott encourages younger pastors not to get discouraged when life is
hard, for sometimes the church needs to see that the pastor “can take a storm.
Sometimes God’s people need to see if this man is going to stand up in trouble.”

Serving in one place so many
years has challenged Scott to “dig personally.” “I can’t preach the same
sermons I preached 10 years ago,” he said. Preaching to the same congregation
week after week requires even greater Bible study and sermon preparation.
“You’ve got to give them something new. You can’t live off what you’ve gotten
in seminary or at a Bible conference.”

Scott plans to continue
serving the Lord many more years. “I’m ready to do whatever He wants me to do,”
he said. “With God, you can’t dream big enough.”

Alexis Baptist Church has
responded in the past couple years with specific ministries to meet community
needs that involve members “reaching out at home.”

Recognizing they are
“bombarded with requests” prompted by needs created by wars, disasters, and by
people suffering without basic necessities, church members decided they would
no longer overlook the suffering of neighbors “in their own backyard.”

Alexis has begun an ongoing
home missions project to find and meet needs of those around the church. Since
they started the project last year, members have met needs “from the most
basic, to the most drastic,” according to church member Rebecca Rebels.

“The Alexis family
understands there are things in this life that cause reasons people cannot
accomplish things on their own, whether it be from lack of money, lack of
skills or lack of assistance,” said Rebels in a story provided to the Biblical
Recorder.

The church built a growing
list of volunteers with a variety of talents who are following the Great
Commission to go and tell, and they are telling and showing by going
and caring.
Volunteers have remodeled
and repaired a kitchen, a bathroom and an entire mobile home that was damaged
by renters’ dogs.

They have replaced steps,
repaired decks, painted storage buildings and garages. They’ve repaired gutters
and downspouts to direct water away from home foundations.

Others have had handrails installed
or entire wheelchair ramps. They have cleaned decks, built walkways, repaired
roofs and installed storm windows. They have built a turtle box, a dog entrance
and a bunk bed.

Together they have repaired,
rebuilt and installed playground equipment, cubbies and book
storage for a preschool. They have even stepped up as a well-honed,
well-equipped team and built a home.

“From the simple to the
extensive, nothing has been too difficult when it comes to caring for our
neighbors,” said Rebels.

“Our Lord instructed us to
take care of the poor and the widows. He instructed us to minister to those in
need.

“The faithful at Alexis have
taken that to heart to show our neighbors the love and compassion of Jesus, our
Lord and King.”

This ongoing community care
“snowballed” into a volunteer response of 80 persons for each of two Operation
Inasmuch weekends this spring, said pastor Sandy Marks.

Fruitland Baptist Bible
Institute will begin three satellite campuses by October President David Horton
told the Baptist State Convention (BSC) board of directors May 26.

Other business of the board,
meeting on its regular schedule at Caraway Conference Center, was routine until
the closing minutes. Austin Rammell, pastor of Venture, moved that the board
ask its executive committee to study the feasibility of replacing “non-priority
missions items” in the Cooperative Program budget with items “we say are our
priority” that are now funded primarily through the North Carolina Missions
Offering (NCMO).

Before he made his motion
Rammell apologized to BSC Executive Director-Treasurer Milton Hollifield Jr.,
saying “God had to grow me up some” in his four years on the board and his “passion
sometimes gets ahead of me and I’ve sometimes been over critical and that can
come off as arrogant.”

During his board term
Rammell has often pushed in discussions for the budget to fund the priorities
currently included in the North Carolina Missions Offering. He feels that will
both diminish the need for special offerings and increase the eagerness of
churches like his to support the Cooperative Program (CP).

The NCMO’s priority items
are church planting and Baptist Men, which coordinates two of the highest
profile ministries under the Convention’s umbrella: partnerships and disaster
relief. If those are truly Convention priorities, Rammell reasons, they should
be fully funded through the Cooperative Program and not dependent on a special
offering.

“The problem is not
marketing for the Cooperative Program,” Rammell said. “GenX pastors get it. The
problem is CP itself … changing how we spend our money is the key, not just
changing how we market how we spend our money.”

John Butler, BSC executive
leader for business services, said because all entities share the rise or fall
of Cooperative Program giving, the priorities in the NCMO would have received
less money had they been in the CP budget last year than they received through
the special offering.
Board member Don Greene said
such a change would require a reeducation process for everyone and “there would
be chaos in all the churches” because “it takes years to do that, to reeducate
everybody.”

After a clarification that
the motion’s only intent is to ask the executive committee to examine the
feasibility of such a move, the motion passed on a raised hand vote with many
abstentions. The executive committee’s findings are due back to the board in
September.

Fruitland satellites
Horton, making his report
one year after starting as president of the Bible Institute, said satellite campuses were a
clear dream from his first days.

BR photo by Norman Jameson

David Phelps, left, director of missions in Atlantic Baptist Association, lobbies Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute President David Horton for a satellite campus in New Bern.

He learned when he took
office that directors of missions had advocated for Fruitland satellites for
years.
Two hispanic satellites will
open in July, one in Winston-Salem and one in Warsaw at Eastern Baptist
Association. A third satellite, to open by October, will be in Union Baptist
Association in Monroe.

Horton anticipates as many
as five new satellites starting in 2011.

“We want to move slowly but
methodically, to make sure the campuses we start will be done right to assure
long-term success,” Horton said.

He anticipates costs to be
just $150 per course, including textbooks.

Acknowledging the “difficult
days for all of us,” Horton said, “I’m just a firm believer that we’ve got to
put something out there in front of people so they have something they want to
give to and be a part of … We’re gearing up to move forward. We’re not crying
retreat.”

Chaplaincy
Three soldiers in uniform
received a standing ovation when they came to report on chaplaincy ministries
in which North Carolina Baptists are involved.

Larry Jones, who works with
military/chaplaincy ministries in BSC’s congregational services, is a colonel
in the National Guard about to begin a four-month leave of absence from the BSC
to direct a government funded study to determine ways faith communities can be
more effectively utilized in helping soldiers deal with the stresses of
returning from the battlefield.

Chaplain Capt. Tommy Watson,
who just returned from Iraq, said chaplains have an opportunity to minister to
the “subgroup” that is soldiers.

“We have a group of people
who want to put their lives on the line, literally, to serve their country and
to serve you,” Watson said.
“Many are in our churches.
If they’re not in your church, they’re probably in your neighborhood.”

The chaplains want to see
churches rally around soldiers and soldiers’ families even those outside the
church family.

Watson said when that happens,
both the military family and the church will be strengthened.

When soldiers tell him about
a problem at home Watson said his best resource is always to call a church at
home and ask them to go see the family.

Watson said he hears so many
stories for which he has no answer other than Jesus. But churches can fill in
gaps at home that will make a real difference.

Military families are real
workers, Watson said. Their involvement in a local church will strengthen that
church.

“They want to get in there and do something,” he said.
“They need to be invited.
They’re probably not going to come to you first unless it’s like they come to
me with a bank account that’s empty or a home torn apart.”

Other reports
With CP income through April
9 percent below the same period last year, budget committee chair Steve Hardy
said he anticipates a lower budget for 2011.

Cameron McGill, chairman of
the social services committee, reported enthusiastically about the 125th
anniversary activities of Baptist Children’s Homes, the thousands of persons
receiving counseling through Baptist CareNet and of the new senior adult
ministries through North Carolina Baptist Aging Ministries, which receives an
average of 30 calls per day asking for help connecting to services.

“These are great days in
spite of a few bumps along the road because of the ministries that are being
done, and I’m thankful for that,” said McGill, pastor of First Baptist Church,
Dublin.

Dana Hall, president of N.C.
Baptist Men said the older of two widely used medical/dental buses is worn out
and must be replaced. A new vehicle will cost as much as $400,000.

The Church Planting and Missions Development Committee reported 112 churches in the funding cycle for the first quarter of 2010.

Embrace women’s ministry is
taking its first international mission trip — to Argentina. They plan to hold
teas to host locals, prayer walk, visit in the schools and do evangelism
activities.

Fifteen teams are scheduled
to help Baptists in the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association this summer,
including two construction teams and 13 evangelism teams.

Fruitland students will
participate in an Urban Plunge in New York, as well.

A federal judge has rejected
a motion filed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to dismiss a California
lawsuit that challenges tax breaks ministers can receive on housing.

Section 107 of the Internal Revenue Code allows housing-related tax breaks for
clergy. The tax write-offs have been permitted for ministers of all faiths
since the 1950s.

In a May 21 ruling, U.S. District Judge William Shubb stated that “plaintiffs
have alleged sufficient facts which, if accepted as true, ‘leave open the
possibility’ that ... Section 107 goes too far in aiding and subsidizing
religion by providing ministers and churches with
tangible financial benefits not allowed secular employers and employees.”

The suit was filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation,
which earlier this year won a court case seeking to overturn the law that
sanctions the National Day of Prayer. That case is currently on appeal.

“We have a very, very strong case,” said co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor. “This
is very unconstitutional. We do not regard this as a symbolic attempt, or a
shot in the dark. We have very strong facts behind us. ... Ministers of gospel
should not be given a privilege that no other tax payer is given.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Delivering the devotional to trustees of the North
American Mission Board (NAMB) at their May 19 meeting in Kansas City, Mo.,
Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) chairman Ronnie Floyd said he’s
“never had a greater passion than I do today to see that North America and the
world have a gospel witness for Jesus Christ.”

“How long has it been since you’ve re-thought what you’re being asked to do on
this board?” asked Floyd, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale,
Ark. “Pause and get your heart around that. God has entrusted you with the
privilege of sitting on this board and to operate as a team to develop a heart,
passion and vision to reach North America with the gospel. I have a big
spiritual word for that — ‘Wow!’”

Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Johnny Hunt, senior pastor of First
Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., also attended but did not speak at the
meeting. He addressed NAMB trustees in an informal gathering the night before
when he and Floyd discussed details of the recent GCRTF recommendations and
took questions from trustees.

NAMB trustees elected Tim Dowdy, pastor of Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church
in McDonough, Ga., as the board’s new chairman. Dowdy has served for two years
as the board’s first vice chairman. Elected first vice chairman: Doug Dieterly,
an attorney who serves as executive pastor of Plymouth Baptist Church in
Plymouth, Ind.; second vice chairman, Ric Camp, pastor of Sonrise Baptist
Church in Mobile, Ala.

Photo by Mickey Noah

Tim Dowdy, center, newly elected chairman of the North American Mission Board’s trustees and pastor of Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Ga., congratulates Ric Camp, left, new second vice chairman of the board and pastor of Sonrise Baptist Church, Mobile, Ala., and Indiana attorney Doug Dieterly, first vice chairman of the NAMB Board. Dieterly is a member of Plymouth (Ind.) Baptist Church.

The search for a new NAMB president continues, Ted Traylor, chairman of the
president search team and pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.,
reported.

“Although the announcement of a nominee is not imminent, the team is making
progress,” Traylor said in comments after the meeting.

While Traylor’s eight-year term as a NAMB trustee expires in mid-June, trustees
voted in executive session to allow him to continue to chair the search team.
The extension gives Traylor a vote on the search committee, but he will not
have a vote when the entire board of trustees ultimately decides on a new
president of NAMB.

In addition to Traylor, other members of the NAMB president search team are
trustees Tim Dowdy; Doug Dieterly; Larry Gipson, pastor of First Baptist
Church, Oneonta, Ala.; Chuck Herring, senior pastor of Collierville (Tenn.)
First Baptist Church; Lisa Knutsen, an elementary school teacher from Las
Vegas; Mike Palmer, pastor of Salmon Valley Baptist Church and Lemhi River
Cowboy Church, Salmon, Idaho; and ex-officio member Tim Patterson, outgoing
NAMB trustee chairman and senior pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church,
Jacksonville, Fla.

In his remarks to the trustees, interim NAMB President Richard Harris
rhetorically asked whether NAMB’s staff and trustees will face the future with
faith or fear.

“NAMB’s future has been described by some — not me — as broken and which can’t
be fixed,” Harris said. “I’ve heard others say NAMB is ineffective and
insignificant — that NAMB has no future and has squandered its opportunities.

“The day I think those things, I’ll walk out the door. If you believe NAMB is
ineffective, insignificant or has squandered opportunities — whether you’re on
the staff or a trustee — you ought to resign and go home. I think NAMB has a
greater future that most of us can imagine,” Harris said.

Harris said he agrees with the assessment of longtime SBC attorney Jim
Guenther, who has stated that “As NAMB goes, so goes the SBC.”

Harris said the mission board’s work and purpose has not changed: to lead the
Southern Baptist Convention to evangelize and congregationalize North America
in order to penetrate the continent’s vast lostness, encompassing some 258
million non-believers, or three of every four North Americans.

“Ladies and gentlemen, staff and trustees, this is our watch,” Harris said.
“We’re going to stand before God and give an account of the decisions we made,
the faith we exercised and the directions we took. In my humble conviction,
this may be the most crucial year in the history of NAMB, the staff and the
trustees.

“We need to stop looking in the rearview mirror and get our eyes on where the
Lord is leading. We need to commit to a new cooperation and collaboration by
those in this room. We need to bring forth creative ideas — pooling the ideas
of the best missiological thinkers.

“We need a new model of partnership among the national agencies, state
conventions and associations — a partnership to build the Kingdom, not our
kingdom. We need to work together to help churches partner and succeed in
fulfilling the Great Commission. Most important, we need a fresh touch from
above and to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.”

Harris highlighted the positive results of several recent NAMB initiatives:

the
commissioning of 88 new missionaries and chaplains on May 16 at Lenexa (Kan.)
Baptist Church in Lenexa, Kan.
the upcoming deployment of 437 semester missionaries and 745 summer
missionaries.

coordination of the delivery of 155,000 Buckets of Hope in Haiti, with major
support from state conventions, associations and local churches. As a result of
Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers and Haitian Baptists, more than
135,000 professions of faith have been recorded since the earthquake on Jan.
12; for every two DR workers, there have been two professions of faith. So far
135 new Baptist churches have been planted in Haiti since the earthquake.

success in the March 1-April 30 God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS) campaign, with
10,500 churches participating to distribute some 15 million “Find It Here”
printed pieces.

In his financial report to the trustees, NAMB’s vice president and chief
financial officer, Carlos Ferrer, announced that through April 30, overall
year-to-date revenues were down 2.8 percent. Cooperative Program revenue was
down 5.15 percent. Ferrer said Annie Armstrong Easter Offering revenue normally
doesn’t start coming in until June. This year’s Annie Armstrong Easter Offering
goal is $70 million.

“There are 258 million lost people in North America,” Dowdy said. “I went to
bed last night thinking about that number. What if it was my best friend? What
if it was my dad? What if it was my mom? Let’s go to the (annual Southern
Baptist) Convention and do our work in the years to come not so interested in
what we have to protect but what we have to proclaim. The gospel is indeed
still Good News no matter what language you speak and that’s what we’re about
at the North American Mission Board.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Noah is a writer for the
North American Mission Board.)

LENEXA, Kan. — Some of the
stories of redemption and new beginnings seemed to have the kernel of a
Hollywood movie script when 71 missionaries and 17 chaplains were commissioned
by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) at Lenexa (Kan.) Baptist Church on
May 16.

Steve Dighton, senior pastor of the Kansas City-area church, welcomed about
1,000 people to the service, which included special music by the church’s
130-voice choir, soloists and orchestra.

The newly commissioned missionaries and chaplains will serve in 32 states and
two Canadian provinces.

Richard Harris, NAMB’s interim president who delivered the commissioning
sermon, quoted the words of Jesus as recorded in John 14:12: “I tell you the
truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I’ve been doing. He will even do
greater things than these because I’m going to the Father.”

“God wants every missionary and chaplain to be successful in ministry,” Harris
said. “But when God gives you a vision, you need to move out. I don’t know what’s
more important in your ministry than praying, ‘Lord, what is it You want to do
in and through me in the coming days, months and years?’”

Harris reminded the missionaries of their heritage on a continent where, now,
some 258 million people are lost without Christ — three out of four North
Americans.

“Southern Baptists in churches, associations and state conventions — like the
Kansas-Nebraska and Missouri conventions — have sacrificed so you can have the
privilege, honor and freedom to be on the front line,” Harris said. “You’re not
here just to have a good religious experience but to penetrate lostness in
North America ... to make a difference between heaven and hell ... to make a
difference in the Kingdom.”

Harris told the missionaries and chaplains not to live in fear but in faith.

“I feel sorry for those people who never expect great things from God. They go
through life or through their ministries — which is even sadder — and never
expect God to work miracles in their lives,” he said.

“Remember this as the day
at the missionary and chaplain commissioning at Lenexa Baptist Church in
Lenexa, Kan., when God began a new work in your life — when God set you on a
journey and a mission. You’re not the same nor will you ever be the same,” he
said.

“Twenty years from now, you won’t look back and be disappointed in the things
you did, but in the things you didn’t do in obedience to God,” Harris said.

Voicing a word to the chaplains, he noted that “you’re going out to be in
places us preachers and pastors will never be, so take the lead and boldly
present the gospel.”

One of the stories a Hollywood movie could tell would focus on Stacey Smith,
who was commissioned as a Mission Service Corps missionary to serve as a
chaplain at the 800-inmate McPherson Women’s Prison in Newport, Ark., about 80
miles north of Little Rock.

Photo by John Swain

Stacey Smith, for 12 years one of the 800 inmates at McPherson Womens Prison in Newport, Ark., was commissioned May 16 as a chaplain at correctional facility.

It’s the same prison where Smith spent 12 years after a conviction in the 1990s
for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

“I was actually sentenced to a 60-year sentence as a first-time offender,”
Smith recounted in an interview. “I had a $500-a-day drug habit. Though I came
from a good moral family, I had been in five drug rehab facilities.”

Though a
seemingly harsh sentence for a first-time offender, Smith still believes “it
was perfect for me,” explaining. If I had gotten what I deserved ... for all
(the drugs) I didn’t get caught with.”

Smith served 12 years of her sentence but, with the intervention of
then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, was released in 2005.

While in prison, she
accepted Christ, thanks to a NAMB-endorsed chaplain who shared the gospel with
her.
Two years later, she went back into the prison as a volunteer.

“I didn’t know that up ahead all along, God had planned for me to go back into
the prison in regular clothes,” Smith said. “Now I’m unmarried, my children are
grown and this is my life — spending 55 hours a week at McPherson. It’s not
just a job.”

How do hardened women inmates — convicted of crimes ranging from forgery to
murder — respond to Smith and her story of redemption?

“It brings them hope. We have an immediate connection. It helps me to encourage
and share the gospel with them and allows them to hear me immediately. It
reminds them that prison is not the end of the world or the end of the story
... (or) just another chapter. I just share with them that God can use anybody.
Anyone can do something for the Lord. I’m just as amazed at my story as others
are,” Smith said.

As did all the 88 new missionaries and chaplains during the two-hour
commissioning service, Smith crossed the church’s stage to say a few words
about her ministry.

Breaking with emotion as she ended her brief remarks, she
received the warmest ovation of the night from a crowd clearly moved by her
story.

Mission Service Corps missionary Nick Williams’ personal story of grace and
forgiveness began in a dark bedroom in Cambridge, Ohio, back in 2004.

In his
hands was a shotgun — the safety off — ready for him to pull the trigger. He
had been a successful businessman, was “well off,” but miserable.

But instead of pulling the trigger, Williams surrendered his life to Christ.

He
and wife Bethany later founded “Quiet Love,” a ministry that presents the gospel
in American Sign Language to the hearing-impaired and hearing alike.

“Our goal is to spark revival regardless of whether the people can hear or not,”
Williams said in an interview. “We have two deaf people in our ministry who
lead people in worship and singing although they cannot hear the music at all.
They sign ‘Amazing Grace’ and it’s so powerful. Everything in the room is done
in darkness with black light only, which prevents distractions and allows the
audience to focus on the real light of Jesus. People can’t help but pay
attention,” Williams says.

With the addition of the 71 new NAMB missionaries and 17 new chaplains, NAMB
now supports some 5,300 missionaries across North America and some 3,000
endorsed chaplains — not only military chaplains but also chaplains
ministering in prisons, law enforcement, hospitals and other health facilities
and in corporations.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board.)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — As Miley
Cyrus transitions from her Disney image as Hannah Montana to the teenage star
of racy music videos, parents whose daughters revere her are left with a
dilemma: How do they explain to their children that Miley isn’t an ideal role
model? Is a talk even necessary?

Dannah Gresh and Vicki
Courtney, two mothers known for their guidance of young girls, each addressed
the topic on their blogs after the release of Miley’s sexually provocative
video for the song “Can’t Be Tamed.”

In an open letter to Miley’s
parents, Billy Ray and Tish Cyrus, Gresh acknowledged that in the past she gave
Miley room to make mistakes and encouraged forgiveness. But the latest video
crosses a new line.

“I wanted Miley to be the
one who would say no to the money-hungry industry that turns perfectly
adorable, talented young girls into common sex toys. You — her parents — were
my hope,” Gresh wrote May 12 at blog.secretkeepergirl.com. “That’s why I’m so utterly shocked at what appears
to be the parental approval you placed on Can’t Be Tamed.”

Gresh said Miley, 17, still
looks to her parents for direction and said in an interview that she reasoned
that the video could not possibly be too sexual because her mother was sitting
on the set.

Miley even acknowledged her
following, which includes hundreds of thousands of tweens, by saying, “A lot of
my fans have grown with me on the show, and I think (the video) is the first
step to growing up.”

“A girl doesn’t have to and
shouldn’t grow up to be what Miley portrays in Can’t Be Tamed. I’ve been on the
front lines of counseling sexually broken teenage girls for 12 years, and they
get broken by imitating the behavior they see in videos like this,” Gresh wrote
in the letter to Miley’s parents. “The media fuels behavior, especially when a
face as trusted as your daughter’s is showcased.”

Gresh said research
indicates there is a link between early sexual activity and the amount of
sexual imagery a child views in her formative years. The more the child sees,
the greater the risk of early sexual activity.

Also, research shows that
girls who are exposed to music lyrics, Internet content and picture-perfect
beauty icons in their tween years tend to be more likely to struggle with
eating disorders, depression and low self-esteem when they are teens, Gresh
said.

“While the impact is not
immediate, it comes like a stick of dynamite to blow up everything you’ve
attempted to build into your daughter,” Gresh wrote on the blog. “One day you
have a bright little sixth grader, and the next you have a depressed ninth
grader with an eating disorder. What they feast on is what they desire to
become. But they can’t be the picture perfect, dolled-up Miley. Miley isn’t
even that. It’s an illusion.”

Gresh, author of the
upcoming book Six Ways to Keep the Little in Your Girl, offered three pieces
of advice for handling the latest Miley debacle with young girls.

First, with
teenage girls only, watch the video and read the letter Gresh wrote to Miley’s
parents.

“If you’ve been fueling them
with the right stuff along the way, they won’t even need the letter to help
them think it through. My daughter Lexi, upon seeing the video, announced her
disappointment. ‘That’s just stupid!’ she said.

“Look at this as a great
opportunity to talk to your daughter about her self-worth,” Gresh said. “Remind
her that playing the tramp doesn’t attract the right kind of interest. Case in
point, the advertising community has discovered by way of research that sex
does sell, but it doesn’t sell brand.

“For example, if you use sex
to sell Kleenex, viewers tend to become more interested in product (tissues)
but they tend less to remember the brand of Kleenex. In general, when a girl
behaves like Miley in public places, she creates interest in product (girl) and
less memory of brand (insert-your-daughter’s-name-here),” she wrote.

For younger girls, rather
than watching the video with them, Gresh suggests saying, “Miley decided to
make a video that shows too much of her body in ways that I don’t want you to
see.”

“Your 8, 9, 10-year-old
should not see the video,” she said. “But she also should probably not be
plugged in to the Miley Mania until Miley decides to be a better role model.
So, talk to her and trust God to guide you.”

Finally, Gresh advised
parents to be careful with Miley’s heart and name.

“The goal is not to boycott
or vilify her. She is God’s precious creation and, just like us, will make some
mistakes along the way,” Gresh wrote.

“Take this as a teachable moment to point
that finger right back at yourselves as mother/daughter. In what areas of your
lives are you being careless?"

Courtney, author of 5
Conversations You Must Have With Your Daughter, said that as mothers across
the country are throwing out their daughters’ Hannah Montana backpacks,
lunchboxes and T-shirts, Miley appears to be on the same path as Britney
Spears, who sacrificed “her girlhood innocence on the sex-sells altar of fame
and fortune.”

Like Gresh, Courtney advised
parents to put a positive spin on a difficult subject.

“It’s OKto be
disappointed over Miley’s actions,” Courtney wrote at vickicourtney.com. “But rather than crucify her (in the hearing of our
children), what if we instead acknowledge the video and what it represents
(aka: take advantage of a teachable moment) and shift the focus to examining
our own hearts and encouraging our children to do the same?

“What if we as parents set an example to our children by
stepping up and owning it when we ourselves are guilty of chasing after
counterfeit gods? Now, that would be radical, wouldn’t it? And rather
refreshing, I might add.”

North Carolina Baptist Executive Director-Treasurer Milton A. Hollifield Jr., will be voting “yes” for the recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force when messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., consider them June 15.

In his first public comments on the work of the task force commissioned last year by SBC President Johnny Hunt to find ways, “Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission,” Hollifield told members of the BSC board of directors May 25 that while some structural changes might help Southern Baptists only “a super unusual movement of God’s Spirit in our lives” will make them effective in accomplishing God’s plan.

While the administrative leader of North Carolina Baptists’ 4,300 churches has been publicly silent on the report that has dominated conversation and communications since its preliminary release in February, Hollifield said he has been sharing with task force members his input and concerns.

He expressed appreciation for the spiritual aspects of the report, because too often Southern Baptists are guilty of not practicing what they preach, he said. They have been ineffective in reaching the nations, especially "our own,” he said.

While the task force recommendations and conversation focus on pushing back lostness in the nations, Hollifield said if we lose North America there will be no resources to send missionaries to other parts of the world.

Great Commission Giving

Hollifield spoke longest in his one hour address about the task force recommendation to adopt a new giving parameter called Great Commission Giving that would “celebrate” all mission gifts from a local church. It would make the Cooperative Program simply the “primary” element of the category, instead of an exclusively recognized missions giving channel that supports all the work.

He said that recommendation created “angst” originally but said “If the Cooperative Program remains the priority and supreme way our SBC leaders recognize church support for SBC missions, then I have no disagreement with celebrating the additional gifts that churches make to support Southern Baptist missions.”

Hollifield’s voice broke as he advocated emotionally for the Cooperative Program. North Carolina Baptist churches give below the six percent national average to missions through the Cooperative Program, he said, and he challenged them “to become a leading state convention in demonstrating that the Cooperative Program is not simply one of many good ways to support missions, it remains the single most effective way to support the multiplicity of missions and ministries that have empowered our churches to accomplish great and mighty deeds in building the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hollifield recounted his youth in a Free Will Baptist home in which his family entertained missionaries who had to return from the field to raise their ongoing support.

“Let us really practice what we preach and take the lead in demonstrating to our Southern Baptist missionaries around the world and across North America, to the orphan and the widow in our own state, to the hungry and needy and to the lost sinner everywhere that North Carolina Baptists are individuals who pray, go and also give to support missions and I think the Cooperative Program is the greatest way to do that,” Hollifield said.

Helping next generation leaders gain the same appreciation for the positive Kingdom ministry effects of the Cooperative Program will not be accomplished by pressuring or by criticizing them for what they are not doing, Hollifield said.

Neither are next generation leaders interested in what the Cooperative Program has accomplished in the past, he said. Instead, Hollifield encouraged board members to befriend and mentor younger pastors who are “both passionate and zealous for the building of Christ’s Kingdom,” to help them understand that the Cooperative Program is the best financial vehicle for missions and ministry into the future.

“They will only begin to support the Cooperative Program when they become convinced that CP is the best method the SBC has found to support thousands of missionaries, build seminaries, plant churches, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and reach lost souls with the gospel,” he said.

“I am not a supporter of Cooperative Program because what it does for me or my preferred state convention,” he said. “I am a supporter of Cooperative Program because of what it does for God’s Kingdom.”

Cooperative agreements

The North American Mission Board operates through cooperative agreements with Baptist state conventions and the task force recommends those agreements be phased out over seven years to “liberate” NAMB to create and deploy a national evangelism strategy.

North Carolina Baptists share the expense of nine ministry positions with NAMB, basically on a 50-50 basis. Some smaller state conventions can only provide 10 or 20 percent of a ministry position cost. Most of these positions are in church planting and missions.

To remove funding from cooperative agreements and potentially lose the ministries they support, NAMB would need to establish a “new national strategy for which it does not possess the staff to accomplish,” Hollifield said.

Yet Hollifield would support the Baptist State Convention losing shared funding from NAMB if the money would go instead “to fund effective and strategic efforts in the underserved areas of North America.”

Hollifield said he informed one of the task force members that they have “no idea how much money” the more established conventions already put back into the underserved areas in strategic partnerships such as the one between North Carolina and the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association.

Hollifield agreed with the task force that one of the greatest harvest fields is “reaching our own young people.”

Hollifield believes the next spiritual awakening “will begin with the younger generation of believers,” and he asked, “Are we entertaining our students or equipping them to recognize God’s call upon their lives?”

The first two recommendations are “spiritual” and “clarify the motivations of the task force” he said. They include a mission statement that reflects the Great Commission, and offer a set of core values.

The task force recommendation to remove geographic restrictions so that international missionaries can work among their people group in the U.S. is fine with Hollifield, but he cautions that it not lead to the very duplications that the task force “has worked so diligently to remove.”

He is less enthusiastic for the additional one percent of Cooperative Program funds recommended for allocation to the International Mission Board to come exclusively from the budget of the SBC Executive Committee. He would like part of the additional $2 million to the IMB to come from another area of the budget.

Hollifield believes the task force report ignores a significant area of denominational service, that of church health. He “bristles” he said when he reads that “thousands of unhealthy churches simply need to die.”

If that was the Lord’s view, he said, we would not have the pastoral letters of the New Testament, written by the Apostle Paul to help unhealthy churches.

“These epistles were written not to help those congregations die, but to help them find newness of life through obedience and faithfulness to Christ Jesus our Lord,” Hollifield said.

Ultimately, Hollifield said he will vote yes for the task force report because it met its assigned task and because once approved, the recommendations will go to the SBC Executive Committee and to the boards of the SBC entities where they will receive the study and input from Southern Baptists they deserve and require.

”I believe their work has begun a critical discussion among Southern Baptists related to numerous issues that impact our effectiveness, or lack thereof, in fulfilling the Great Commission,” Hollifield said.

ABOUT THE BIBLICAL RECORDER
Since 1833 the Biblical Recorder has served North Carolina Baptists as the Baptist State Convention's official news journal - with the emphasis on news. The paper was founded by Thomas Meredith, an early pastor, writer and denominational statesman in North Carolina.